Liverpool grasscourt event reinstated after date change
Thu 19 February, 2004 10:58
By Ossian Shine
LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A Wimbledon warm-up event in Liverpool has been reinstated after organisers switched its date to avoid falling foul of a rule restricting where top players can compete.
The grasscourt Liverpool International, won by Marat Safin in 2002, was removed from Britain's sporting calendar last March when tennis chiefs refused to budge over the mileage rule.
The governing body of men's tennis stuck by the rule prohibiting top 50-ranked players from competing in tournaments staged within 100 miles of an ATP event the same week.
The rule centred on Liverpool lying within 100 miles of Nottingham as the crow flies, despite the fact that Liverpool's Calderstones Park is 106 miles by road from the Nottingham Tennis Centre, where an ATP grasscourt event was being held that same week of June 16-22.
In 2002 the new tournament was given a special exemption.
Organisers said on Thursday they have shifted the event to June 9-13, the same week as the Stella Artois Championships at London's Queen's Club, to avoid a clash with Nottingham.
A 5,000-seater stadium will be erected for the round robin event, for which world number 28 Vince Spadea is the first top professional to sign up.
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